3/10/2025: I am moving into revising Act 2A of my novel, RIVERS RISE. Working on the 2nd draft of the thriller book (and the 13th draft of the novel, including its Coming-of-Age versions).
Act 1 feels pretty good: good length (58 pages), focused rather than all-over-the-place, and a good amount of tension and conflict. I’m feeling it moves along well. I’d like to get others’ feedback, but I still feel it’s too early.
Act 2A: quite the mess, to tell you the truth. I reread it over the weekend. There’s no flow and the emphasis often is not where it should be. Because this is only the 2nd draft, my goal is just to get it so that other humans can read it and that clarity rather than confusion reigns. Some chapters are 20 pages; others are 2. Not a surprise that there’s no consistent rhythm in the novel yet. Yep. That’s what I got. To the good, there’s some surprising scenes in 2A and some surprising actions by the characters.
So here’s what I did. Saturday and Sunday I reread all of 2A, and wrote out summaries for each scene, short or long. Next, I will gather scenes together. I will structure them according to my Scenes rubric. I’ll insert a copy of the Scenes rubric here for your reference.
Roughly, the above rubric follows short story and Save The Cat! structure. Based on recent reading, the dilemma, climax, and cliffhanger are the most important characteristics. But they’re all important. So, I will start with this structure as I revise, and then feed in the various actions.
I will begin refiguring the chapters tomorrow (tonight I will play my electric guitar). I hope that this week I can squeeze the 39 existing chapters into 20-30 chapters with the above shape.
Wish me luck!
Hey, the Comments Box on the Comments page is working now. Let me know what you think of how I’m revising!
